Order of the Kingdom: Sunset Horizons
by KeybladeDetweiler
Summary: Ven has missed the last five Order meetings, and the others can tell that something's up. Alex, Vince, and Spinelli go out looking for him, only to find that he has been dealing with something dark from his past.


The five other members of the Order were extremely worried. This was the sixth time in a row that Ven hadn't shown up for the Order's weekend meet-up. They had done ten assignments in the past five weekends, all of them without him. He hadn't told any of them where he was going or when he'd be back.

"Where is he?" Riku asked aloud as he paced back and forth across the room. "This is the sixth weekend he's missed."

"I hope he isn't sick or anything." Alex said from her spot on the bed.

"He can't be; we would have heard something."

"Well, if you want him to stay in the Order, you'll have to hunt him down." Prescott said from the doorway. "If these unexcused absences continue, I can and will suspend him. Permanently."

"You wouldn't! Ven is like family!" Alex cried in protest as she stood up.

"Yeah; he's been with us for over a year now!" Vince added. "He's like a brother!"

"Well, "brother" or not, he still has duties as an Order member." Prescott huffed. "And two of those duties are to show up for the meetings, and to tell us when he'll be gone!"

"He must have a good reason for not telling us." Sora said. "Otherwise, he wouldn't be so secretive about it!"

"He hasn't been secretive; we just haven't been able to get ahold of him to talk to him." Riku countered.

"Maybe he's ignoring us." Spinelli offered.

"Why would he do that? We haven't said anything mean to him!" Alex said. "Well, the four of us haven't," she said, referring to herself, Sora, Riku, and Vince. "But you and Prescott might've said some things."

"I've said nothing hurtful to him!" Prescott said defensively. "Just critiques. Those may have come across as spiteful, but I assure you that I didn't mean them to."

"I'm the same way!" Spinelli said. "Well, most of the time."

"Well whatever happened, we have to find him. We're doing that this weekend instead of our usual assignments." Riku said authoritatively.

"Have you forgotten who's in charge here?" Prescott asked rudely. "_I'll_ decide if you go out looking for him."

"Well, can we?" asked Vince.

"I _suppose_ so."

Suddenly, Prescott's communicator wristwatch went off. He answered it, and after listening to the caller for a minute, hung up.

"Sora, Riku; Mickey requires your assistance with something." He told them.

"What is it?" asked Riku.

"He didn't say; it's most likely Keyblade Master business. All he told me was that he needed to see you. Immediately."

Sora sighed. "Oh well. Looks like will have to hold off on looking for Ven for now."

"We'll go!" Alex said. "We can look for Ven while you two go help Mickey."

"Are you certain you can handle it?" asked Prescott.

"Of course we can!" Spinelli said. "What, you don't trust us?"

"It's not that. You've just never had an assignment where all three Keyblade wielders were absent. That worries me somewhat."

"We'll be fine!" Alex said.

"Yeah. We'll show you that we can do just fine without the help of Keyblades." Vince agreed.

"Well, if you think you can do it, go ahead." Riku said with a nod.

"Uh-huh." Sora said with a smile. "Bring Ven back safe and sound!"

"Roger that!" Spinelli said.

With that, Sora and Riku left to go see Mickey.

"All right then." Prescott said with a sigh as soon as the boys had left. "I'll have to tell Snow White and Rapunzel that we have to cancel due to an emergency." He shuffled some papers.

"Wait a sec." Alex said suddenly. "How are we going to get to other worlds to look for him? Sora and Riku just left with the Gummi Ship."

Prescott rolled his eyes and sighed. "I _suppose_ I'll have to take you myself, in my personal ship. But don't expect me to help you look for him; I have mountains of paperwork to attend to."

In ten minutes, the group had boarded Prescott's ship and was ready to begin the hunt.

"This ship is a hunk of junk!" Spinelli commented as she looked around.

"I built it out of spare parts and junk from Mickeyjunk Mountain. It's no NASA vessel, but it's still functional." Prescott explained.

"That explains all the Hidden Mickeys." Vince said with a laugh. Prescott rolled his eyes.

"Well, where do we start?" Alex asked.

"Don't ask me; I'm just the chauffeur." The Gremlin huffed.

"We should ask Terra and Aqua." Spinelli suggested. "After all, he lives with them, and they're his best friends. They have to know something."

"Good idea."

"All right then. The Land of Departure it is." Prescott said.

In a few minutes, they had arrived at The Land of Departure, home and training ground of Master Aqua, Terra, and Ventus. They landed in the courtyard just in front of the brilliant, shining castle. After supposedly hearing their arrival, Aqua came out the large front doors with Terra behind her. When she saw who their guests were, she sped down the stairs, still able to maintain the sangfroid of a Master. She opened her mouth to speak, but Terra cut her off.

"Have you seen him?" he asked worriedly. Aqua frowned.

"Ven?" Alex asked. "We came here to ask if you'd seen him!"

"He's been gone for a few days now." Aqua said, stepping forward a little. "We thought he might have been out with all of you, but it looks like he wasn't."

"He hasn't shown up for the past five meetings!" Spinelli said. "We haven't heard anything from him."

"Well, he's been home _most_ of the time." Terra explained.

"Yes. But every so often, he'll go off on his own." Aqua continued. "And when he comes back, he looks like he's been beaten. Badly."

"Beat up?" asked Vince. "What's he been doing?"

"We don't know. But it isn't like Ven to get into fights."

"Yeah." Terra nodded. "We've asked him about it, but all he tells us is that he's just been training really hard."

"He told us that he was going to go off and train some more a few days ago, and he hasn't come back since." Aqua said with a sigh. "I'm so worried about him; he looked terrible coming home like that. He needs to use Cure or a potion when that kind of thing happens."

"We were just about to go off looking for him when you guys showed up." Terra added.

"Do you have any idea what could be beating him up that badly?" asked Alex.

"Well, he might just be running into monsters that are too big for him to handle alone." Aqua suggested.

"Yeah. The only other thing that could beat him up that badly was Vanitas, but as far as I know, he's gone." Terra said.

"Who?" Alex asked, raising an eyebrow at the seemingly familiar name.

"Vanitas. He was Xehanort's apprentice." Aqua explained. "He was always going after Ven; trying to hurt him."

"You said he's gone, right?"

"As far as we know." Terra said.

"What world was he from?"

"Both he and Xehanort lived in the Keyblade Graveyard. Well…Xehanort did."

"Okay. Well, we'll look around the worlds for Ven. If we find him, we'll bring him back ASAP."

Aqua smiled. "Thank you."

"If you need some help, I'll go with you!" Terra volunteered, stepping forward with Earthshaker in his hand. "Ven's like my brother; I have to make sure he's all right."

Alex smiled awkwardly before shaking her head. "It's okay. We'll find him."

Terra's face fell a little. He sighed. "Well, all right." He gave them a small smile. "Bring him back safely, okay?"

"Of course we will!" Spinelli nodded.

After bidding Terra and Aqua farewell, they returned to Prescott's ship.

"Well, where to now?" huffed the Gremlin, who had been reading his biweekly copy of _Gremlin Mechanics_.

"We don't have any major clues," Vince said. "So I guess we'll just have to world hop until we find him." The boy eyed the Gremlin's magazine. "Hey; I thought you had paperwork to do!"

"I finished it."

"Well, we don't have any solid clues as to where he is, but Terra told us something _very_ interesting, and I think we should check into it." Alex said.

"Wait, you mean what he said about that guy that was always bugging Ven?" asked Spinelli. "Sounds like a real jerk."

"Yup."

"But they said that he's gone; why should we bother checking it out?" Vince asked.

"I don't know. It's somewhere to start, I guess. Maybe we'll find some real clues."

"Well, why not?" Spinelli said. "Let's go."

"Where now?" Prescott asked, his hand on the course adjuster.

"I think he said it was called the Keyblade Graveyard." Alex said.

"I don't believe I've heard of that world…no, wait. That's where all of that Keyblade War business happened, isn't it?"

"Riku said something about all of that...yeah; I think it is where all of that happened."

"All right then. The Keyblade Graveyard it is."

When they arrived at their destination, they found a desolate, barren wasteland. Brown, rocky cliffs rose high into the air, and dark clouds rolled through the sky. Not a soul could be seen for what seemed like miles.

"Well, I can definitely see why Xehanort lived _here_." Alex said, looking around. "This place is perfect for him."

"Let's start looking and see if we can find something." Vince said.

The group headed forward into the Badlands, looking around for any clues that might lead them closer to finding Ven. What they ended up finding was much better than any clue they could have wished for.

"Look, over there!" Spinelli cried, pointing at something a fair distance away. The other two joined her at her hiding place behind a tall rock.

"It's Ven!" Alex gasped. The boy was standing in front of a dark-looking portal, holding Wayward Wind at his side. A determined look was plain on his face.

"What's he doing?" asked Vince.

"I think he's about to jump into that portal." Spinelli said.

"Well, we can't let him! Come on!" Alex said, running towards him. The other two bolted after her.

As they got closer to him, they picked up snippets of a conversation. He was _talking_ to the portal.

"Ven! Wait! Don't!"

The blonde turned to see his three friends and teammates running up to him. He fearfully began to shake his head, trying to keep them away.

"No guys! Don't come any closer!" He warned.

They stopped. "What is it?" Alex asked, confused and worried.

"It's fine! Don't worry; I can handle it! Just stay right there!"

"Come on, Ven!" Vince stepped forward. "Tell us what's going on!"

Before Ven could answer, the dark portal behind him began to grow, wisps of darkness floating off of it. As it expanded, the boy slowly backed away from it, fear overcoming him. As the other three watched, they saw what seemed to be a person come forth from the dark swirl. When it had become clearer, they saw that it was a boy just a little taller than Ven. He wore a white and black bodysuit, and a domed glass mask with a strange symbol emblazoned upon it.

"Who _is_ that?" Spinelli asked, shocked.

"No idea." Vince replied, just as shocked.

_He looks familiar,_ thought Alex. _But I can't remember where I've seen him before. Or if it even __**was**__ him that I saw._

As soon as his feet had landed on the ground, the boy summoned a dark Keyblade and entered an offensive position. He was ready to fight, presumably with Ven, who was now about a yard away from him.

"Heh. Still cowering away, are we Ventus?" the boy said mockingly to Ven. He had a very familiar voice.

"Hey! He sounds like Sora!" Vince said.

"Yeah!" Spinelli said. "Too weird!"

"Hey Ven, who is that guy?" Vince asked, gesturing to the masked boy.

Ven simply shook his head and continued trying to keep them away from the mysterious boy. Something was _very_ wrong.

"Well, if you're not gonna fight," The masked boy said to Ven before turning to the other three. "Then maybe your friends will." He went into his battle stance again, now facing them.

"Wait, what?" Spinelli fell back a little, placing a hand on the slingshot at her waist.

"You heard me." The boy said. "The three of you can fight in his place, since he's too afraid to face me. Maybe you'll put up a better fight than he does."

"No!" Ven cried, running towards them. "Wait!"

The masked boy laughed as he watched Ven approach. "Guess you're not as cowardly as I thought."

Ven scowled at him and went into his battle stance. Alex grabbed his free hand, halting him.

"Ven, tell us what's going on. We can't help you if you don't tell us what's wrong."

Ven relaxed just a little bit. "He's…"

"What's this? You haven't told them about me yet?" The masked boy asked haughtily.

"Ven, who is he?" Alex asked.

Before Ven could answer, the mysterious boy struck him to the ground.

"Ven!" The boy's three friends ran to his aid. Alex tossed a potion his way, then the three of them stood in front of him protectively, prepared to fight the masked assailant that had hurt their friend. The masked stranger laughed at them.

"You really think you have a chance? _He_ can't even defeat me; why do you think that you can?"

"We'll give it a shot." Spinelli said, putting a hand in her pouch of projectiles.

"Me too." It was Ven. He had used the potion and was now back on his feet, ready to help them fight.

The masked boy launched a blinding spell at Ven, who dodged it just barely. Spinelli launched a few rocks at the attacker, but he dodged them by disappearing into a dark blur.

"Hey! No fair!" she pouted.

"Don't worry about it Spin! Just fight!" Alex said, preparing to charge at the boy. Just as she was about to strike, he pushed her back with a dark force from his hand. Vince sent a kick his way, but the boy grabbed his foot and threw him to the ground. Ven tried sneaking up behind him, but the boy warped away again before he could strike.

Even after a few more minutes of fighting, none of the Order members had managed to land a solid hit. The masked boy was finally able to bring the four of them to the ground.

"What's wrong? Giving up already?" he asked mockingly. Just about done with them, he left them sitting on the ground and walked away.

"This is…hff, hff…hopeless." Spinelli panted breathlessly. "He's _way_ too tough."

"Yeah. I just can't see us winning this one." Vince agreed.

"I told you guys…hff…I could handle it." Ven said. "He's my problem. You don't have to…hff…worry about him."

"Ven, we were just…hff...worried about you." Alex panted, giving him a concerned look.

"I know." He smiled weakly. "I just didn't want you guys to get hurt, that's all."

"I wish Sora and Riku were here." Spinelli said, rubbing the back of her head. "We'd have a much better chance."

"Yeah, but they're not. So we can only do one thing right now." Alex said.

"What?"

"Give up."

"And let him cream us? _No way_!"

"He won't do anything." Ven said. "He'll just go back into the portal until someone calls him out again."

"Really?"

"Yeah. At least, that's how it was the last few times."

"Wait…_he's_ what you've been off fighting this whole time?" Alex asked.

Ven nodded in reply, rubbing the back of his neck. He got to his feet. "All right, Vanitas. We give up!" He said, placing Wayward Wind back onto his back. After getting up, the girls did the same with their weapons, and Vince nodded.

"Heh. I knew you couldn't do it." Vanitas laughed. "Not even with help from your friends."

With those last words, he disappeared back into the dark portal.

"Wait a sec…_he's_ Vanitas?" Spinelli asked, shocked. "Terra said he was gone!"

"Not _exactly_. See, I defeated the real Vanitas, but part of him stayed behind here. What we just fought is what's left of him. I think Yen Sid called it Vanitas Remnant, when I asked him about it."

"So, he's not _gone_ gone, is he?"

"Nope."

"Who is he, exactly?" asked Alex.

"He…" Ven sighed. "Is the darkness that used to be inside of me. Xehanort extracted him, and it fractured my heart." He placed a hand over his chest, wincing at the memory.

Alex gasped and pulled him into a tight hug. The other two joined her.

"Ven…I'm so sorry!" she cried, her eyes brimming with tears.

"Yeah. That's sounds terrible!" Spinelli said, squeezing him a little tighter than necessary even though she had no idea what, exactly, had happened to the boy.

"It's okay…I'm perfectly fine now!" Ven perked up. "Sora saved my heart from fading away. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't be here. Well, that's what they told me anyway."

The group broke apart, relieved.

"Well, I'm glad that's over with." Vince remarked. "For now, anyway."

"Ven, someday, when we've had more practice and have Sora and Riku with us, we'll go after him again, 'kay?" Alex said.

"Okay." Ven nodded. "I'm sorry for missing all those meetings. I just wanted to try and get rid of him for good."

"We understand."

"Hopefully Prescott will too." Vince added.

"It'll take some convincing, but he'll come around." Spinelli laughed.

"Sure." Alex laughed. "C'mon, let's head back."

They returned to Prescott's ship looking a little worse for wear.

"I'm glad you found him, but _what happened to all of you_?!" the Gremlin asked, shocked by their condition. "What did you fight out there? An army of angry gorillas?"

"Long story." Ven said as he took a seat.

"I'll hear it later." Prescott sighed. "Right now, we're off to see Terra and Aqua. They were worried sick about you, and they'll be relieved to see that you're all right." He looked back at the bruised boy. "Well, alive, at least." He rolled his eyes. "Why don't the four of you use some potions to make yourselves look more presentable, all right?"

"Oh yeah!" Alex said, pulling four potions from her bag. "We got so distracted, we forgot to heal ourselves." She laughed weakly.

"I'm surprised. It looks like you got quite the beating. Those bruises must hurt like the Dickens."

The four of them nodded before gulping down their potions. The instant effect made them feel much better, but only alleviated the pain of their injuries and healed any cuts they may have acquired. The bruises remained.

In roughly five minutes, the group arrived back at The Land of Departure. Terra and Aqua were extremely overjoyed to see that Ven had been returned home safely.

"Oh, Ven! You're all right!" Aqua cried, pulling the boy in for a hug. She frowned when she noticed the bruise on his cheek.

"Ven, that bruise on your cheek. What gave it to you?" she asked.

"Vanitas." The boy admitted, looking down at his feet.

"What?!" Terra said, outraged. "He's back? I thought he was dead!"

"It's what's left of him. Master Yen Sid called it "Vanitas Remnant"."

"So he's still around?"

"Yeah, kind of."

Terra sighed. Aqua placed a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, then said, "It doesn't matter, as long as you're safe Ven." She put her other arm around him.

"Yeah." Terra said with a nod. "That's what matters the most." He affectionately ruffled the boy's hair. "Don't run off like that again though, okay?"

"I won't. Promise." Ven smiled.

"Well," Prescott said, floating forward. "It's good to see that you're all right now, Ven. We cancelled the assignments for the weekend so that your fellow Order members could go out looking for you, so it seems that you have the weekend to yourself."

"Us too, right?" asked Spinelli.

"Yes, you too." Prescott sighed.

"Sweet! What do you guys want to do?" the girl asked.

"How about we go out for pizza and ice cream, to celebrate?" asked Vince.

"Sure." Alex nodded. "Hey, Prescott…when are Sora and Riku supposed to be back?"

"Sometime later tonight, or so I heard." The Gremlin replied.

"All right. Well, I guess we'll have to go without them."

"We can save them some pizza." Spinelli said, brushing the matter aside. They prepared to head back to the ship, but not before Alex could turn back around and ask,

"Hey, Ven, are you coming?"

The boy turned back to Terra and Aqua. "Can I?" he asked.

"Of course." Terra said approvingly. "He can go, right Aqua?"

Aqua nodded. "Yes, as long as he's back before his bedtime."

"All right!" Ven cheered. "Thanks Terra, Aqua." He said, giving them both a big hug before running off to join his friends.

The four Order members headed off to Pizza Planet to spend the rest of the night together, in celebration of Ven's safe return.


End file.
